Book
Report with a Difference!Have some
fun learning the Language of Criticism

Task:

A
pretentious talk show host interviews an equally as pretentious book reviewer
about a book they think people of your age would love to read. In pairs you must
present a 3 minute play that reviews a book that both of you have read and enjoyed.

The
dialogue of the play must contain: the name of the book, the author, the
genre of the book, the setting, an outline the plot, the major complication, the
author's message to the reader (why the author wrote the book) and a comment as
to why students should read this book.

The
dialogue should aim to contain a few of these words where appropriate: tone, mood,
atmosphere, point of view, climax, anti-climax, flashback, theme, monologue.

I
also find I like to challenge the children by doing a little 'forced creativity'
in relation to vocabulary :)

You
must also include the words:

facetious,
trite, pugnacious & plausible

words
the teacher wants to focus on

three new words you have learnt for this task

To
help develop vocabulary and to have the children 'rise above the mundane use of
words' I insist that some words are not to be used.

Words
definitely not allowed: got, fun, sad, happy

Teaching
Point:

The
trick with a book review is to tell the audience enough about the book to convince
people to read it, but not enough to ruin the experience for them.